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BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket

ChasR RR Helper motivation Posts: 10,307 Club RR Member Number: 170	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket ChasR @chasr Club Retro Rides Member 170
	Apr 6, 2018 8:36:12 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Mar 22, 2018 8:48:19 GMT Davey said: Great story telling as always, i also love York and have spent many happy hours there over the years. Cheers! York is a lovely place! I will have to go back up for a while longer next time! It’s funny really. Sometimes you see a minor problem and hope that it goes away. On a few occasions however it will linger like a bad smell. This was certainly the case for my VANOS! It started during autumn during an oil change. Not a kiss as Hot Chocolate put it. There I was checking away the car’s diagnostic system using the much-fabled INPA system. All was well until I checked the engine’s codes. Two codes came back. P0012 (BMW 72, 0x48): Vanos intake timing over retarded Pxxxx (BMW 184, 0xB8): Vanos intake position control Crumbs, curse word! This is not a set of codes that I wanted. After doing some research it did seem that something as simple as an iffy connection to the VANOS solenoid pack could do this! With that in mind, I cleaned out the connection, refitted it, cleared and codes and waited to see what would happen. To my relief, the codes did not come back after running the car. Not then anyway. However, come a week before I put the car away again for the winter period I was greeted with a very flat feeling engine! Sure, it was not dead slow but it was felt very flat for an M3! On top of that I also had an EML light make an appearance! Once again, I got my diagnostic kit out, INPA for those wondering. If you have a BMW this software is well worth the purchase price! Like before, the codes came back. Also like before, I tried to clear the codes! This time however, code 182 refused to go. Great! After doing some research it became apparent that these codes are common codes to get on an E46 M3, even from many years ago! It pointed to my VANOS seals and my solenoid pack going. With that in mind I ordered a set of Beisan Systems Viton VANOS solenoid seals in addition to their refurbished & uprated solenoid pack, all of it coming from Hack Engineering. With those things ordered it was time to crack on with the job with the help of a trusty teaboy. OK, I lied, I meant a friend. How easy is it to change these seals? Very! With the Beisan Systems guide, this job is a doddle. The instructions for changing the components can be found here. But I’ll take you through it, just in case you are having your doubts, Once I took off the all too familiar engine dressing parts with nothing more than a screwdriver and a pair of pliers. With that done I took the opportunity to loosen the VANOS pressure regulator. I then carefully removed the solenoid connection and undid the VANOS solenoid bolts. With rags underneath the solenoid to catch any lost oil, I put the valve block and solenoid assembly onto the bench. This is where the real work began! I started by separating the solenoid pack from the valve body. One thing the Beisan guide omits is that these solenoid bolts can get rusty; I’d purchase a set of these from BMW at the same time as getting the revised valve body bolts. It will simply make life easier. While my friend cleaned out the valve block as best as he could with a can of highly pressurised carb clean in addition to a magnet (allowing the valves to open for further cleaning), I cracked on and removed the seals from the sealing plate. It was fair to say that my seals were shot! You can buy a complete sealing plate from BMW for around £30. However, considering that the Beisan seals are cheaper and made of more heat resistant Viton I went ahead and installed the Viton items into place: Who doesn't like a bit of bling? Doesn't the refurbished valve pack look great? At least it's another shiny part of the engine bay! With the Solenoid,Valve block and Sealing plate assembly all done it was time to put it back into place! Not only did it brighten up the engine bay a little it also would end up cleaning the codes for good! For £170 all in including the revised bolts from BMW it was a good result all in! I didn’t change my VANOS filter as I previously did that almost a year ago. I did however change the pressure regulator seals to the Viton items; the inner seal was already going square surprisingly! The CTEK was put onto the car since the poor car had been off the road for a month with all of the salt about on the roads! Another job I got around to sorting was the appalling handbrake! With the entire assembly stripped down I went ahead and cleaned everything! Armed with some Ceramic grease I carefully applied it, reassembled the brakes and all was well again! I know what it sounds like! The car has broken again! I did however do some fun stuff! But that can wait until the next installment.
	'79 Honda NC-50 '02 Mercedes R230 SL500 '03 BMW M3 Coupe '08 BMW E91 325d M-Sport Touring Pre-LCI '16 Yamaha XSR700 My car history and exploits: leylandlegends.com

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ChasR RR Helper motivation Posts: 10,307 Club RR Member Number: 170	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket ChasR @chasr Club Retro Rides Member 170
	Apr 7, 2018 19:22:59 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Sometimes you work away at getting the car running right that you forget about the fun stuff and let the irritations annoy you even more. My case in point is my head unit. Many moons ago I decided to install an Alpine iLX-700 CarPlay headunit. I didn't however because I was tight and I didn't really have the time to install it with the car being a daily driver. All that happened was that it looked a little tired with the typically scratched instrument/ashtray panel with their 'soft touch' plastics and I had a head unit sticking out of the dash like an eyesore. After all, you always focus on the mole on a person despite their face otherwise being stunning! Thankfully, the scratched panel is not visible in that shot. There was nothing for it but to get rid of it after I put the car back into storage. I wasn't going to forget about this car despite it being stored! All I needed was a headunit and a fascia kit. I had the headunit, and I later purchased a fascia. The latter would become a pain as we will find out later . The above headunit being tested with Roadkill type fitment in the Mercedes is the Sony XAV-AX100 headunit. This is very handy since it's a headunit that can fit my car (cue the Mosby 'We'll see that later") and it can do Bluetooth as well as Android Auto! It's also the only Apple/Android HU that has a rotary volume knob! Very handy! I had taken off plastics inside this car before for the previous headunit to be installed. I didn't however quite expect it to turn into this kind of a mess! But where would I go from here? Would it ever get back together again?
	'79 Honda NC-50 '02 Mercedes R230 SL500 '03 BMW M3 Coupe '08 BMW E91 325d M-Sport Touring Pre-LCI '16 Yamaha XSR700 My car history and exploits: leylandlegends.com

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sonus Europe Posts: 1,392	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket sonus @sonus
	Apr 8, 2018 20:44:15 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Ohhh a bit of Talkaudio lite Me like
	Current 1968 TVR VIXEN S1 V8 Prototype 2004 TVR T350C 2017 BMW 340i Previous BMW 325d E91LCI - sold Alfa Romeo GTV - sold Citroen AX GT - at the breakers Ford Puma 1.7 - sold Volvo V50 2.0d - sold MGB GT - wrecked by fire MG ZT 1.8T - sold VW E-golf Electric - sold Mini Countryman 1.6D -sold Land Rover Discovery TD5 - sold

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georgeb Posted hell of a lot Posts: 7,864	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket georgeb @georgeb
	Apr 9, 2018 6:07:06 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	And there's nowt quite like a stripped down valve block! Full of these...
	Last Edit: Apr 9, 2018 6:08:59 GMT by georgeb 1995 Range Rover P38 4.6 HSE Letter from Manila

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ChasR RR Helper motivation Posts: 10,307 Club RR Member Number: 170	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket ChasR @chasr Club Retro Rides Member 170
	Apr 9, 2018 7:08:33 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Apr 8, 2018 20:44:15 GMT sonus said: Ohhh a bit of Talkaudio lite Me like This would be a ChasR thread without a minor reference to audio! Previously I've been lazy but I've managed to also get good results from it by doing things like deadening with good products. Processing power has also shown its worth on more than one occasion. Apr 9, 2018 6:07:06 GMT georgeb said: And there's nowt quite like a stripped down valve block! Full of these... Christ! Those seals are bad! What are they out of in the Rangey? Gearbox? It seems that while Viton is more suitable as a material the rubber items can be less resistant to being cut etc. However, their temperature range only goes up to 90-100 degrees Celcius, meaning they will go brittle with time. I'm surprised that the BMW rubber seal on the VANOS pressure regulator had squared off again! It will be interesting to see how the Viton item lasts in the same application. I alluded to me wanting to install a double DIN CarPlay headunit previously, preferably with DAB. The problem is a large number of them are true "full depth" Double-DIN HUs. This means that without butchering the dashboard, or in particular the heater box you have to live with losing the heater controls to your feet. This means you either have to live with no or little air going to your feet and potentially a compromised screen heater if you keep the feet flap open. Given that I quite like being thawed up in cold and/or wet conditions that was not an option for me. This left me with choosing a shallow depth Head unit. The contenders were as follows: Alpine iLX-700; it's a tried and tested headunit in many circles. But it doesn't do Bluetooth. But being Alpine, its SQ is great and the crossovers are some of the most flexible in the lineup A Chinese E46 Looking headunit; These while looking OEM can also look cheap. Without getting either a Dynavin or Eonon HU the quality of the headunits is variable to say the least, as it the interface and reliability. A Dynavin can also cost £600! Which at that money makes another option look better Alpine iLX-702E46; This as it suggests is a dedicated HU made for the E46 by Alpine and is the true successor of the 700. It still looks like an Alpine, but the headunit is designed to be a plug and play solution over the rest. It is expensive at £700, but it does do Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, DAB+ as well as having an in-built TomTom. It's funny, what seems expensive at first soon looks reasonable, as you'll see later Sony XAV-AX100. It's a new HU onto the market. It's a single DIN chassis with a double DIN screen which inadvertently means it can work with the E46s. Besides having Bluetooth, Carplay and Android Auto it can also had a Navigation box added on at a later date. At £300 for just the HU it's also the most reasonably priced on the face of it. The resistive touch screen isn't as nice to look at compared to the Capacitive touch options from Alpine/Parrot, but in use the screen is no slower to use and IMHO looks more OEM Parrot Asteroid Smart, This is a good headunit but the interface is said to be a little iffy now; it was one of the first shallow depth Double DINs to enter the marker after all. It also has two USB slots which is very handy! It also does CarPlay and Bluetooth Kenwood's new Shallow depth HU. This doesn't do CarPlay or Android Auto. The crossovers are also very limited, even compared to the Sony, which at least has high pass filters. But at £180 it is one the cheapest options available. But that's enough discussion, I'd have to get stuck in with whatever choice I made! CarPlay addition E46 M3 by Charlieboy, on Flickr The heater vent, the trim, SMG dome and surround, heater control unit and cubby hole storage all were removed in the quest to see what I had to play with. CarPlay addition E46 M3 by Charlieboy, on Flickr That is the stock BMW Single DIN cage, which also houses the heater panel. Since a screen would be going in the way I'd no longer be using it, or so I thought. I then tried to refit the stock Alpine HU back in with the wires on. Even without the above cage for the stock CD player and heater control unit it was never going to fit. Me having the Harman Kardon system probably doesn't help ; I have RCA cables to transmit the signal to the HK stuff. Once I put the Sony alongside the Alpine it was easy to see why the Alpine would never fit into the hole (ooooh eerrrrr)! CarPlay addition E46 M3 by Charlieboy, on Flickr The Alpine at the bottom of the above picture was longer than the Sony, by quite a way! With the mic plugged in and the steering controls it would never work. With that in mind it was time to see if the Sony would fit with everything attached, before I ordered up adaptors and so on. It's not the first time I've been told something will fit when it won't: CarPlay addition E46 M3 by Charlieboy, on Flickr Excuse the music, I blame my friends, honest! In short, it did fit but it did present problems which became more apparent the further I progressed: That was a debacle! That can wait for the next installment, where my point about the Alpine iLX-702E46 or Dynavin seeming decent will become more apparent
	Last Edit: Apr 9, 2018 7:21:13 GMT by ChasR '79 Honda NC-50 '02 Mercedes R230 SL500 '03 BMW M3 Coupe '08 BMW E91 325d M-Sport Touring Pre-LCI '16 Yamaha XSR700 My car history and exploits: leylandlegends.com

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georgeb Posted hell of a lot Posts: 7,864	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket georgeb @georgeb
	Apr 9, 2018 20:39:19 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Apr 9, 2018 7:08:33 GMT ChasR said: Christ! Those seals are bad! What are they out of in the Rangey? Gearbox? 21-year-old air suspension block. I'd say they were just about life expired!
	1995 Range Rover P38 4.6 HSE Letter from Manila

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ChasR RR Helper motivation Posts: 10,307 Club RR Member Number: 170	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket ChasR @chasr Club Retro Rides Member 170
	Apr 9, 2018 20:40:00 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	The thread was left with things looking rosy regarding the installation of the Sony HU. However, it was not to be. I, first of all, did what anyone else would and ordered an el cheapo fascia for less than £30. This unlike a few also has the correct step built into it so that the heater vent can fit correctly too unlike a few versions out there. AX-100 install by Charlieboy, on Flickr However, the ruler in that shot highlights a few issues that I'd contend with regarding fitting the HU into place. Briefly they are down to: 1) The lack of factory mounting points for a simple Plug & Play Double DIN installation 2) The low rent quality of a number of Double DIN fascias 3) Compromised usability of the Sony HU with the commonly available fascia adaptors. The solutions are: 1) Make/buy a cage to mount the HU into but it will also be compromised anyway due to the above 2) Get a left-handed fascia adaptor which will potentially work with a modified factory cage once a bit of trimming has taken place. The volume knob will still be compromised however 3) Get the Enfig fascia adaptor. This is the closest thing to a Double DIN Plug & Play kit with the Sony AX100 headunit. It also is a great quality kit and it shows. For those seeking detail let's get into a mammoth long post. Stay awake at the back of the classroom now 1) From the factory, the Double DIN Sat Navs have a chassis/cage built into them so that they fit the car. As a result, you don't have a means to secure an aftermarket Double DIN bar the Chinese E46 Sat-Nav copies or the Eonon/Dynavin etc. This is a problem any Double-DIN user will have, irrespective of if they go with a shallow depth HU or heater cutting item. This leaves you with a few choices i) Make your own cage mounts up to secure the HU. This is possibly the cheapest option but it will get time-consuming, and add a chunk of hassle. One way this could be done is to butcher the factory Single DIN/Heater control panel cage. To get it to mount centrally will involve butching the thing a lot. It will also lose your means to go back to a factory installation in the future too short of buying another cage to fit into your car. ii) Get a cage that bolts onto the factory bits take. The cage is also around £60 after delivery regardless of where you look. While it takes a chunk of fabrication out of the equation for something like the Alpine or Parrot shallow depth units it still potentially requires further fabrication. incartec.co.uk/Pages/Product.aspx?P=3765 2)This fascia is not the best of quality and is primarily designed for HUs with button There is not much you can do about this but I'll come back to this point. 3)Because the Sony AX100 has a single DIN chassis that clears the heater box it introduces a new problem with the fascia which my previous photo alludes to. It can't sit flush with the fascia adaptor as its chassis rests on the heater box, removing any possibility of angling the HU to fit flush with the fascia. You're also left with a small gap between the HU and the bottom of the HU. You could file down to the recess towards the top of the fascia so that the HU sticks out slightly further. But then you'll always be left with another problem. The volume knob will have no clearance on the left-hand side. Thus it will be tricky to adjust the volume with the HU unless you have steering wheel controls. With this in mind, I started trialing other options. What were the choices? Solutions: 1) Offset the HU to one side. AX-100 install by Charlieboy, on Flickr IMO, with a left-hand fascia adaptor, this could work and you'd have room for the volume knob to work again. But the fascia kits aren't the best of quality still and depending on your preferences it does look strange with the HU stuck to one side of the aperture. Considering the look is part of the driving experience inside it's something you'll see all of the time. You can modify the factory Single DIN HU/heater panel cage a little to make this work and potentially do it cheaply. This is only my theory, however: 2) Get the Enfig kit specific to this headunit. This is the most plug and play installation you'll get. Cheap however it isn't. I paid £80 to get the HU delivered to this country and Parcelforce robbed me for a further £24. Ouch! £12 of that was VAT and the rest was their 'handling fee'. Yeah, right. This is a similar price to getting the fascia adaptor and Double DIN cage above. This fascia kit was almost a bargain if the heater relocation panel wasn't left-hand-drive specific. But it's time to install it. The first thing that struck me upon opening the kit was the quality of everything. It's something Enfig don't really show and the pictures don't do it justice. It has that rubberised coating feel and it all feels well made. It is a step up from other adaptors I have seen on the market for a long time. Not just the E46 but others in generall too. enfigcarstereo.com/ENFIG_RMK_E46_XAV1.html Sony XAV-AX100 installation by Charlieboy, on Flickr On the bench the Double DIN cage is easy to assemble with the handed plates being an interference fit into the back of the main frame, requiring two screws to keep them in place. Sony XAV-AX100 installation by Charlieboy, on Flickr Sony XAV-AX100 installation by Charlieboy, on Flickr Once everything is mounted onto the cage and the HU connected up the whole lot can be bolted into the car. Note the use of the factory screw locations. Sony XAV-AX100 installation by Charlieboy, on Flickr All that is left to do is put the heater vents in on top of the Double DIN chassis as per the factory way and then screw/clip the fascia plate itself into position. Sony XAV-AX100 installation by Charlieboy, on Flickr Sony XAV-AX100 installation by Charlieboy, on Flickr There is of course one catch left. The heater panel relocation. The part supplied by Enfig will not fit our cars due to it being a left-hand-drive part Sony XAV-AX100 installation by Charlieboy, on Flickr What this means is Ms. Merkel had been meddling things for us long before Brexit! Basically, the heater panel curves differently. It' curves into a tighter line on the driver's side for each country. For people who drive on the right side of the road on the left (see what I did there?), it curves in tighter towards the bottom on the right. For people who drive on the wrong side it curves into the left. You can guess which side this panel curves into! But it is not the end of the world. You can either buy this panel with an ashtray from BMW or without like the one above. You can also modify the original panel to accept the heater control unit (HCU) Basically you cut in two slots into the panel where the clips are on the bottom of the HCU. You will have a 3mm gap however between the HU and the switch panel once it is installed but it is one way to save cash here. Given how tired these panels get in E46s it is probably worth sourcing a new item. And that is it! Besides mounting the microphone in a desired location like the steering column panel or on the windscreen the job is done! And doesn't it look good and give you much-improved usability? If you don't like Apple Maps Sony do sell a Sat-Nav module to plug into this HU for £180. It uses TomTom maps. For the Android users this HU does also do Android Auto. I have yet to try that since my phone is obviously fruit based. I've got to get one of my 5-a-day y'no! All in, this is another solution out there for people considering a Double DIN installation without a lot of fabrication and with a good chunk of flexibility regarding the head unit. I did eventually surrender and go out to buy a BMW instrument panel so that the heater would sit correctly in its aperture. And here they are side by side: There, it looks fine, doesn't it? Upon getting the right shot you can see the car's panel was quite scratched! farm5.staticflickr.com/4695/25761621647_5a83cb216d.jpg With that done it was time to install the new instrument panel and survey the magnificence. But would it be? The answer is a very predictable yes! The car has become a lot more convenient and with a layer of technology a decade newer being brought into the car! It's served its purpose a few times! In other places, people have asked me for a kit list for this setup. Here I will also give it seeing there are a few E46 owners about. The kit list includes: -Enfig Fascia installation kit: enfigcarstereo.com/ENFIG_RMK_E46_XAV1.html -Harness adaptor. Depending on your car and whether you want steering controls this can vary. I used the one for mine which is a Harman Kardon harness adaptor with steering controls: incartec.co.uk/Pages/Product.aspx?P=4606 -A Sony patch lead is the final puzzle in making the steering controls work: incartec.co.uk/Pages/Product.aspx?P=2643 -Antenna adaptor: incartec.co.uk/Pages/Product.aspx?P=2800 -The headunit itself, obviously! www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-XAV-AX100-Receiver-B... -Heater relocation panel; You can use your existing part but there will be a 3mm gap between the heater control panels and the instrument panel. I went with a non-smoker panel from BMW 51167001409 - Non-Smoker Relocation Panel The smoker item is over £100 with the only difference being it has a cigar lighter, and ashtray with it, all of which you can take from your item. Oh, and it has a light for the fag tray, which the non-smoker item doesn't. You could go secondhand here, but almost all of them are tatty and they go for £40-50 which seems crazy for a tired item. You'd have thought after splashing the cash here I'd stop. Well, this is me, and this is RR. I'm sure this car has given me a disease of sorts. Maybe it was the car before that, or the one before that one, or before...
	'79 Honda NC-50 '02 Mercedes R230 SL500 '03 BMW M3 Coupe '08 BMW E91 325d M-Sport Touring Pre-LCI '16 Yamaha XSR700 My car history and exploits: leylandlegends.com

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hillbilly Part of things Posts: 327	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket hillbilly @hillbilly
	Apr 9, 2018 21:48:03 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Nice work! I think it looks great. I had similar but not quite as in depth issues upgrading the stereo in the monaro. It’s much better in almost every way but I do miss all the buttons! Early 00’s cars were full of buttons especially the head units and when you stick in a modern unit with touch screen it feels like half the cars kit has gone! I ended up with a Sony that had a few buttons, I had to have them! I must be part Chinese or something
	Last Edit: Apr 9, 2018 21:52:21 GMT by hillbilly

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Davey Posted a lot Resident Tyre Nerd. Posts: 2,348	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket Davey @davey1991
	Apr 10, 2018 9:07:53 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	That looks a great install and so much attention to detail. I am struggling beyond all hope to find a decent fascia for my R56 mini. So this is motivation.
	K11 Micra x3 - Mk3 astra - Seat Marbella - Mk6 Escort estate - B5 Passat - Alfa 156 estate - E36 compact Mk2 MR2 T-bar - E46 328i - Skoda Superb - Fiat seicento - 6n2 Polo - 6n polo 1.6 - Mk1 GS300 EU8 civic type S - MG ZT cdti - R56 MINI Cooper S - Audi A3 8p - Jaguar XF (X250) - FN2 Civic Type R - Mk2 2.0i Ford Focus - Mercedes W212 E250

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ChasR RR Helper motivation Posts: 10,307 Club RR Member Number: 170	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket ChasR @chasr Club Retro Rides Member 170
	Apr 10, 2018 10:31:59 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Cheers all! It's good to see that the HU install has been well received . Apr 9, 2018 21:48:03 GMT hillbilly said: Nice work! I think it looks great. I had similar but not quite as in depth issues upgrading the stereo in the monaro. It’s much better in almost every way but I do miss all the buttons! Early 00’s cars were full of buttons especially the head units and when you stick in a modern unit with touch screen it feels like half the cars kit has gone! I ended up with a Sony that had a few buttons, I had to have them! I must be part Chinese or something I had to say, I didn't think it would be this much of a pain to install the HU. The cost and learning only partly about the faff put me off installing it. I can see why some places can take half a day or more to install a Double DIN HU into the E46. Longer if you have to chop the heater box out. I know exactly what you mean about the buttons. It is one reason why I wanted to keep my steering controls. It just makes life so much easier with a logical layout. It could be a button overload, however. We have the X308 Jags for that . Apr 10, 2018 9:07:53 GMT Davey said: That looks a great install and so much attention to detail. I am struggling beyond all hope to find a decent fascia for my R56 mini. So this is motivation. I figured with something that I'd see everyday the details would matter . The volume knob after all would have been useless with the cheaper fascia, not to mention the fit. Make no mistake, I like adding decent things to the cars, but not at the cost of finish, usability and all those good things. We all want the moon on the stick after all. It's a shame it can cost at times. Compared to the Alpine;s E46 specific offering I don't think I've done too badly. Especially when a CarPlay/Android Auto Software Update on a brand new BMW is £300 from the dealer! What kind of HU are you fitting into the R56? A friend of mine has done a few installs on one. I'm happy to ask him. Are you running any stock sat-nav or Harman Kardon kit etc. as a factory option?
	'79 Honda NC-50 '02 Mercedes R230 SL500 '03 BMW M3 Coupe '08 BMW E91 325d M-Sport Touring Pre-LCI '16 Yamaha XSR700 My car history and exploits: leylandlegends.com

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Davey Posted a lot Resident Tyre Nerd. Posts: 2,348	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket Davey @davey1991
	Apr 10, 2018 10:40:10 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Apr 10, 2018 10:31:59 GMT ChasR said: Cheers all! It's good to see that the HU install has been well received . Apr 9, 2018 21:48:03 GMT hillbilly said: Nice work! I think it looks great. I had similar but not quite as in depth issues upgrading the stereo in the monaro. It’s much better in almost every way but I do miss all the buttons! Early 00’s cars were full of buttons especially the head units and when you stick in a modern unit with touch screen it feels like half the cars kit has gone! I ended up with a Sony that had a few buttons, I had to have them! I must be part Chinese or something I had to say, I didn't think it would be this much of a pain to install the HU. The cost and learning only partly about the faff put me off installing it. I can see why some places can take half a day or more to install a Double DIN HU into the E46. Longer if you have to chop the heater box out. I know exactly what you mean about the buttons. It is one reason why I wanted to keep my steering controls. It just makes life so much easier with a logical layout. It could be a button overload, however. We have the X308 Jags for that . Apr 10, 2018 9:07:53 GMT Davey said: That looks a great install and so much attention to detail. I am struggling beyond all hope to find a decent fascia for my R56 mini. So this is motivation. I figured with something that I'd see everyday the details would matter . The volume knob after all would have been useless with the cheaper fascia, not to mention the fit. Make no mistake, I like adding decent things to the cars, but not at the cost of finish, usability and all those good things. We all want the moon on the stick after all. It's a shame it can cost at times. Compared to the Alpine;s E46 specific offering I don't think I've done too badly. Especially when a CarPlay/Android Auto Software Update on a brand new BMW is £300 from the dealer! What kind of HU are you fitting into the R56? A friend of mine has done a few installs on one. I'm happy to ask him. Are you running any stock sat-nav or Harman Kardon kit etc. as a factory option? Completely bone stock basic. No sat nav hence the want to upgrade. Bask in the basicness! I am looking to run something very similar to your few choices. Its great how much people try to help on this forum!
	K11 Micra x3 - Mk3 astra - Seat Marbella - Mk6 Escort estate - B5 Passat - Alfa 156 estate - E36 compact Mk2 MR2 T-bar - E46 328i - Skoda Superb - Fiat seicento - 6n2 Polo - 6n polo 1.6 - Mk1 GS300 EU8 civic type S - MG ZT cdti - R56 MINI Cooper S - Audi A3 8p - Jaguar XF (X250) - FN2 Civic Type R - Mk2 2.0i Ford Focus - Mercedes W212 E250

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ChasR RR Helper motivation Posts: 10,307 Club RR Member Number: 170	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket ChasR @chasr Club Retro Rides Member 170
	Apr 11, 2018 7:18:49 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Apr 10, 2018 10:40:10 GMT Davey said: Apr 10, 2018 10:31:59 GMT ChasR said: Cheers all! It's good to see that the HU install has been well received . I had to say, I didn't think it would be this much of a pain to install the HU. The cost and learning only partly about the faff put me off installing it. I can see why some places can take half a day or more to install a Double DIN HU into the E46. Longer if you have to chop the heater box out. I know exactly what you mean about the buttons. It is one reason why I wanted to keep my steering controls. It just makes life so much easier with a logical layout. It could be a button overload, however. We have the X308 Jags for that . I figured with something that I'd see everyday the details would matter . The volume knob after all would have been useless with the cheaper fascia, not to mention the fit. Make no mistake, I like adding decent things to the cars, but not at the cost of finish, usability and all those good things. We all want the moon on the stick after all. It's a shame it can cost at times. Compared to the Alpine;s E46 specific offering I don't think I've done too badly. Especially when a CarPlay/Android Auto Software Update on a brand new BMW is £300 from the dealer! What kind of HU are you fitting into the R56? A friend of mine has done a few installs on one. I'm happy to ask him. Are you running any stock sat-nav or Harman Kardon kit etc. as a factory option? Completely bone stock basic. No sat nav hence the want to upgrade. Bask in the basicness! I am looking to run something very similar to your few choices. Its great how much people try to help on this forum! It's how we all began. I'd like to think my spannering begun from this forum, along with another one I'm about to link you to. It took me from the step of 'Oh, that looks nice' to 'I'll give it a go, what's the worst that can happen'? After doing some digging myself it seems you don't have a simple solution for your car, due to the CANBUS being interlaced with the car. But it's not the first car to have this, and many VAGs out there have aftermarket HUs installed with the very same issues. What this means is you can install it without a CANBUS controller (in the harness) but it may cause problems during dealer software updates, which may not be a problem anyway. Here's a quick kitlist I found from browsing. You'd need possibly a PDC gong if you have parking sensors, the Fascia adaptor, Steering harness which looks to have the CANBUS stuff (IncarTec can confirm that for you over the phone), the antenna adaptor and a patch lead for your headunit of choice. incartec.co.uk/Mini/1885/1036/2066/0 Connects 2 Also do one I believe. Where you'd get a surefire answer is on www.talkstuff.net/ipb/index.php?app=forums The guy that I know has done a few installs with Minis (a bloke called Baz) was/is on there still, and a few install houses are on there too. It's partly believe it or not where some information was verified about my Sony thankfully.
	'79 Honda NC-50 '02 Mercedes R230 SL500 '03 BMW M3 Coupe '08 BMW E91 325d M-Sport Touring Pre-LCI '16 Yamaha XSR700 My car history and exploits: leylandlegends.com

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b3nson Part of things Posts: 886 Club RR Member Number: 22	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket b3nson @b3nson Club Retro Rides Member 22
	Apr 11, 2018 7:28:35 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Carplay units are 100% the way forward. Music, podcast, radio and satnav all in one unit and constantly ‘live’. I bought my Pioneer one for my Alfa 18 months ago and it’s so good at bringing an older interior bang up to date. Just swapped in into my new Volvo daily, despite it being worth half of what I paid for the car! Great updates BTW. Have a look at Danny DC2s youtube channel if you haven’t already. Used to be purely Integra stuff but he’s got an M3 now that he’s doing a fair bit of work on, may be of interest to you!
	'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP

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ChasR RR Helper motivation Posts: 10,307 Club RR Member Number: 170	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket ChasR @chasr Club Retro Rides Member 170
	Apr 11, 2018 21:21:48 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Apr 11, 2018 7:28:35 GMT b3nson said: Carplay units are 100% the way forward. Music, podcast, radio and satnav all in one unit and constantly ‘live’. I bought my Pioneer one for my Alfa 18 months ago and it’s so good at bringing an older interior bang up to date. Just swapped in into my new Volvo daily, despite it being worth half of what I paid for the car! Great updates BTW. Have a look at Danny DC2s youtube channel if you haven’t already. Used to be purely Integra stuff but he’s got an M3 now that he’s doing a fair bit of work on, may be of interest to you! I absolutely agree about the HUs. Having Bluetooth in cars really helped things along with me and previous cars. Music boxes can be effective but I wouldn’t quite say they are a substitute. The CarPlay HUs are great. If someone calls you, your SatNav doesn’t diassapear onto the background and so on. Will the Sony stay in th car? Only time will tell. I’ve seen a few of Danny’s videos and it’s interesting to see his views. I understand he’s doing a BBK upgrade on his car at the moment. So, I said I was splashing the cash. Well, this where I poured it in! It's fair to say the car hasn't been the cheapest thing to run, and to be honest thoughts of selling did crop into my head. They often do when faced with expenditure. Why? I fancied changing the big-end bearings. But why did I want to do that? That is pretty simple really. The way I see it, two things can finish off an M3, well, write one off: 1) A boot floor cracked badly enough to warrant a new RACP; About £5k no matter where you go 2) The Rod Bearings; If these go and the crank is marked/scored there is a question mark over whether the crankshaft can be saved; They are tuftrided from the factory and it is said generally reground cranks aren't as strong as original items. A shame as a new crank is over £2k from BMW, and even the S54 engines are £3k secondhand! That is before fitting! Yes, head gaskets, VANOS & SMG pumps can go, but generally, the expense is much smaller and easier to spot without generally writing the car off. In those cases, cheaper and potentially longer lasting solutions have been found too in the case of the VANOS & SMG gubbins. With that in mind I dropped the car off to Autobahn in Halesowen. Given that Rob was known to colleagues of mine in addition to him racing E46 M3s I figured the car would be in safe hands. All was going well! I dropped the car off on a Saturday, and then went to the Restoration show at the NEC. That was until Tuesday. I had a phonecall to say that one of my rod bearing bolts was being stubborn. It was fair to say that I was slightly anxious at this point! But how would it all go? Would this really be a big stalling point?
	Last Edit: Apr 11, 2018 21:22:11 GMT by ChasR '79 Honda NC-50 '02 Mercedes R230 SL500 '03 BMW M3 Coupe '08 BMW E91 325d M-Sport Touring Pre-LCI '16 Yamaha XSR700 My car history and exploits: leylandlegends.com

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Davey Posted a lot Resident Tyre Nerd. Posts: 2,348	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket Davey @davey1991
	Apr 12, 2018 7:12:55 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	This information is just amazing! The CANBUS is my worst enemy! Can't wait for more updates. plenty of research for me to do in the mean time.
	K11 Micra x3 - Mk3 astra - Seat Marbella - Mk6 Escort estate - B5 Passat - Alfa 156 estate - E36 compact Mk2 MR2 T-bar - E46 328i - Skoda Superb - Fiat seicento - 6n2 Polo - 6n polo 1.6 - Mk1 GS300 EU8 civic type S - MG ZT cdti - R56 MINI Cooper S - Audi A3 8p - Jaguar XF (X250) - FN2 Civic Type R - Mk2 2.0i Ford Focus - Mercedes W212 E250

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adam73bgt Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 4,994 Club RR Member Number: 58 Member is Online	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket adam73bgt @adam73bgt Club Retro Rides Member 58
	Apr 12, 2018 16:48:01 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Interested to hear how you get on with the guys at Autobahn, I'm still idly looking about for a place to do my M50 stroker build if I'm not feeling up to it myself and they could be just the ticket!
	1973 MG BGT - First car, Long Term Project 2003 Chrysler Crossfire - "Daily Driver" 1979 Kawasaki KZ400 - Bike Resto Project 2000 Alfa Romeo 166 - Also Daily Driver

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mercedeslimos Part of things Posts: 597	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket mercedeslimos @mercedeslimos
	Apr 12, 2018 22:21:17 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Apr 12, 2018 7:12:55 GMT Davey said: This information is just amazing! The CANBUS is my worst enemy! Can't wait for more updates. plenty of research for me to do in the mean time. Nothing to be afraid of. Actually makes wiring much easier. Fifty wires in a connector can now be condensed into two... It’s the software and coding that makes people boggle!


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ChasR RR Helper motivation Posts: 10,307 Club RR Member Number: 170	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket ChasR @chasr Club Retro Rides Member 170
	Apr 13, 2018 7:10:39 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Regarding CANBUS Davey it's what mercedeslimos said. In many ways it does simplify things. The coding does take time to understand but it's all doable . I left you folks at the edge of your seat wondering what was happening with my engine. The truth is I was anxious myself! I have worked on the car almost solely over the years, with it only seeing garages for an MOT, manufacturer recalls as well as Rear Axle Carrier Panel (RACP) reinforcement. ETA were considered for the big end bearings but getting to Brands Hatch on weekdays only can be a royal pain. I'll be honest, I wanted the phone to ring ASAP with good news after that! So there I was, sat at work worrying about the engine. I was hoping that welding a bolt onto the bolt would free it. In short, it did! My relief, however, did not come until I came back home and I had a text stating the car was ready to be picked up! Without hesitating, I arranged some transport at short notice and got down to Autobahn. There Rob talked me through what he had done. Then he showed me partly what I wanted to know; the state of the bearings that came out. With 138k on the clock were they beyond gone? The answer? Rod Bearings by Charlieboy, on Flickr One was(ish) on the limit with some copper showing but the rest were not too terrible. A few were scuffed as you can tell. But compared to others I have seen removed with less mileage mine were in a pretty decent state; many after even 70k generally have some copper showing on all of the shells! Some would argue I should have left them in! But at least I have the confidence to drive my M3 as intended . Maybe this maintenance has had the wrong effect on me. Only time will tell, however. Apr 12, 2018 16:48:01 GMT adam73bgt said: Interested to hear how you get on with the guys at Autobahn, I'm still idly looking about for a place to do my M50 stroker build if I'm not feeling up to it myself and they could be just the ticket! Autobahn I'd say are worth a go. They race an E46 M3 in a couple of race series too. However, if I was looking for a custom engine build it would be none other than EMC Motorsport in Saltely. Kevin Eacock and his sons Alex & Ben are very switched on. Kevin cut his teeth on racing 924s back in the day which then swiftly went onto 944, 968s, as well as various 911s, lately of the 996 variety. Now they do alot with the Puma Cup while still dabbling with Porsche things. For some time they were the only 968 to have reliably finish the BritCar 24Hour. Not a bad feat. They'll consider all aspects of engine building which IME alot of people overlook, now I've owned a larger capacity build; the Escort RST. They'll consider honing on some engines like Alfas where they feel they are a little smooth, and engine breathing which often becomes a problem the larger a CC you go due to the increased crankcase pressure; it's one reason I said to consider the stock M54 3.0; Just bunging on a catch tank doesn't cut it alot of the time and it can harm power . With your build I'd certainly give them a call and mention I sent you . He did used to race an E36 330i (I did just say that) or 328i I recall. Kevin can be a prick to get along with but it is how he operates; his knowledge is great, he built more engines than we've had hot dinners and he is in demand during race season for this reason. Deep down he is a fairly genuine, decent and knowledgeable bloke.
	Last Edit: Apr 13, 2018 7:13:36 GMT by ChasR '79 Honda NC-50 '02 Mercedes R230 SL500 '03 BMW M3 Coupe '08 BMW E91 325d M-Sport Touring Pre-LCI '16 Yamaha XSR700 My car history and exploits: leylandlegends.com

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b3nson Part of things Posts: 886 Club RR Member Number: 22	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket b3nson @b3nson Club Retro Rides Member 22
	Apr 13, 2018 16:50:19 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Are you taking this to Bicester next weekend? If so i’ll have to come and have a nose around
	'99 Fiat Coupe 20V Turbo '08 Panda 100HP

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ChasR RR Helper motivation Posts: 10,307 Club RR Member Number: 170	BMW E46 M3 : That's the ticket ChasR @chasr Club Retro Rides Member 170
	Apr 13, 2018 18:52:58 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Seeing as it is my only roadworthy car I'll have to . Oh the shame. But it's not all bad .
	'79 Honda NC-50 '02 Mercedes R230 SL500 '03 BMW M3 Coupe '08 BMW E91 325d M-Sport Touring Pre-LCI '16 Yamaha XSR700 My car history and exploits: leylandlegends.com

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